


Our Greatest Achievements

by EmberForge



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Angst, because Luna and Newt need to meet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 02:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13871196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberForge/pseuds/EmberForge
Summary: "What's that you're holding?""It's a colorb. Mummy made it for me. I can make it change different colors if I focus hard enough.""That's quite fascinating. Your mother was very creative.""She was."





	Our Greatest Achievements

It was on a rainy summer's afternoon that Newt Scamander found himself in a small cottage in Ottery St. Catchpole, watching as various witches and wizards dressed in black mingled in hushed tones around him. In his hands he held a plate with a small sandwich on it that had been left out for the guests, but something about eating at such an event left him with a sense of discomfort, and as such the food had remained untouched for close to a half hour. He shifted a little further into the corner he had stowed away in, leaning against the wall for support.

"The line's started to disband. You should go and say something."

Tina Scamander had materialized at Newt's elbow, interrupting his wandering thoughts. He glanced across the room, where sure enough, Xenophillius Lovegood stood alone for the first time that afternoon, staring out the window. With a quick glance exchanged with his wife, Newt handed off his plate and carefully weaved his way through the crowd in order to join the man.

It was certainly a tragedy, to lose one's wife. And at such a young age, too. Xenophilius's nature meant that he was harder to read than most, but the lines under his eyes that hadn't been there before betrayed how difficult the recent events had been.

"Xeno."

The younger man didn't turn his head from the window as he spoke. His voice was light, as always. "Mr. Scamander. Thank you so much for coming."

I'm so sorry for your loss. Pandora was a truly remarkable woman."

"We knew her work was dangerous. I firmly believe she greeted death as a friend, in the end. It's a comfort, to know that." Xenophilius nodded to himself.

"She accomplished much since she graduated Hogwarts." Newt said. "Her work on expansion charms was absolutely vital on my most recent expedition to Argentina."

"Our greatest achievements are what we leave behind." Xenophilius agreed.

They fell into an awkward silence. Newt glanced over to his left and saw a young woman and her husband waiting to take his place. He gently settled a hand on Xenophilius's shoulder. "Tina's left some baking in the kitchen. Please, if you need anything, don't hesitate to give us a call."

The man finally turned his gaze away from the window. His eyes were both warm and sad, though his words were sincere. "Thank you."

As Newt stepped away, a new, pressing concern made itself known. His search around the room only revealed the entrance to the kitchen, a basement, and a storage closet that was curiously stuffed with feathers. Looking around until he spotted a familiar face, Newt picked up snippets of conversation as he made his way across the room.

_"-can't believe it, it was so sudden-"_

_"-he's so hard to read, but I think-"_

_"-and that poor girl! To loose her mo-"_

"Molly!"

As Newt approached the redhead he noted that her children seemed nowhere to be found. Perhaps she had sent them home after paying their respects. She had brought the oldest of them with her earlier that afternoon. One of Newt's longer conversations that day had been with one of the eldest sons about his fascination with dragons. They were perfectly polite, for the most part, but Newt imagined that they could only manage being in such an atmosphere for so long before becoming antsy.

"Newt, dear! How can I help you?" The woman warmly asked.

"Do you happen to know where the loo is?"

"Oh, it's a bit hidden away. You'll have to go up a floor, second door on the right."

"Thank you."

It took no time at all to find the room, and afterwards Newt lingered before heading back down to study the decorations hanging in the upstairs hall. The walls were covered in frames. Smiling photographs of the family taken over the years were interspersed with various sketches of creatures Xeno had drawn during expeditions of his own (alongside a few more colorful drawings his daughter had done), as well as a few framed copies of The Quibbler, the eclectic magazine Pandora and Xeno had started just a few years earlier.

Newt was studying a sketch of a rather large beast with two heads that he'd never seen before when out of the corner of his eye he noticed that he was want alone. The blonde haired girl he spotted could only be Xeno and Pandora's daughter. She was sitting almost out of view on the curving staircase that led to the next floor, idly rolling a small glass ball in her hand. She looked very small, having situated herself to be sitting longways on a single stair, and though her face was quite dreamy like her father's, the expression she wore gave Newt the impression that she was trying very hard to ignore everything going on downstairs. She reminded Newt of some of his more timid creatures. Perhaps even a bit of himself.

He slowly made his way up the stairs until he was able to settle himself on the stairs just below her. He pointedly stared at a sketch on the wall instead of her, letting her get used to his presence. He felt her eyes on him for a moment before she focused again on the toy in her hands, but he knew he had caught her attention. "Hello there," he said, finally.

"Hello." Her voice was soft.

"I don't think we've met," he continued. "My name is Newt. Newt Scamander."

"The magizoologist?" She stopped rolling the ball between her fingers. It changed from a deep red color to a blue-violet.

"That's right."

"Daddy talks a lot about you. He says you've done extraordinary work with magical creatures."

"That's very kind of him."

She finally turned to face him properly, and Newt copied her movements. "My name's Luna."

"It's very nice to make your acquaintance, Luna." He gave her a soft smile. "Now, what are you doing in the stairwell?"

"I'm trying to avoid the Wrackspurts. They're everywhere downstairs, and they make it really hard to think."

"Wrackspurts?" Newt asked.

"They're small, flying creatures. You can't see them, but you can feel them when the air is heavy." She looked down at her fidgeting hands again, though her voice remained light. "It's alright if you don't believe me. No one ever does."

Newt placed his hand on top of hers, stilling her movements and causing her to look up again. "Luna, just because I can't see them doesn't mean that I don't believe you. I've found plenty of creatures that no one knew existed."

"I'm going to invent a way to see them someday," she said.

Newt smiled."I have no doubt you will." He removed his hand, revealing the toy in her hands once more, which had turned an emerald color. "What's that you're holding?"

"It's a colorb. Mummy made it for me. I can make it change different colors if I focus hard enough."

Newt watched as it turned a lemon yellow. "That's quite fascinating. Your mother was very creative."

"She was," Luna agreed.

Newt thought a moment before his next sentence. "I'm very sorry for your loss," he said sincerely.

"Thanks." Luna said. She looked down at her hands as the colorb turned a navy blue. "Mummy was working on one of her experiments," she said, quieter. "I don't remember what it was for. I came to get her for supper. She must have known something was wrong, because she pushed me behind the table and then... it was really loud."

Newt wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't heard this part of the story before. He wasn't sure any of the people downstairs had, either.

Luna looked up at him. "Mummy was really good at magic. I don't know what happened this time."

"Does magic frighten you now?" Newt asked carefully.

"... No. I don't think so. I think we're only afraid of things we don't try to understand."

"Where did you learn that?"

"Mummy. She used to compare it to Daddy's creatures. She said that it never meant to harm us on purpose. All we needed to do was learn to understand it."

Newt nodded. "That's an incredibly wise thing to say."

Luna's eyes drifted towards the wall. "Mummy loved magic, so I think I should too. She was really smart. I'd quite like to be smart like her when I grow up."

Newt followed her gaze. She was staring at a picture of her and her mother. Newt watched as Pandora put her arms around her daughter, hugging her tight as the two laughed at the camera. "I think you already are, Luna," he said.


End file.
